Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Palestine is NOT the only place where Muslims have suffered atrocities...

Asalaamu Alaikam,

It seems these days that it's quite "fashionable" to be an activist for Palestine. Plenty of people know of the sufferings going on there. Even some in the media do not sugar coat their reports, and show clearing what the Palestinian people are going through. But I would like to ask that people remember for a moment that Palestine is NOT the only place where Muslims have suffered atrocities. It is especially important that Muslims know that Muslims in other regions are suffering as well.

In the 1990s, there was a war in Bosnia, and thousands of Muslims were killed by their Christian Serb "neighbors." Mass graves were found, where the bodies of men and boys executed by the Serb Army had been dumped and covered over. Women and girls were raped and murdered by the Serbs. No respect was give to them in life or death. This was a mass genocide against a people simply because of the religion that the practiced.

And now let's talk about how much "practice" those Bosnian Muslims had been able to do. Under Soviet restrictions, Muslims were not allowed to practice their religion much at all. A whole generation grew up not knowing what being Muslim was all about. They didn't know how to pray, how to dress, how to behave. Emblems of their faith: prayer rugs, copies of Qurans, etc, were either destroyed by the Soviets or hidden away in trunks and left to time. Masjids were closed, and children received no Islamic training. Any outward display of their faith was cause for target by the Soviet enforcers. Over time, basically all they knew was that they were "Muslim," but apart from that, everything else was a mystery to them. All of this happened years before the Bosnian war.

So why were they targeted, if they were no longer practicing Islam? It was an ethnic war, drawn along "religious" lines. The Serbs (and Bosnian-Serbs) were Christians, and they resented that these "Muslims" were inhabiting what they considered their "homeland." Under the fanatical Slobodan Milosovic, the "ethnic cleansing" began. And the world, for the most part, looked away.

I was in high school at the time, and although I was not yet Muslim, I understood clearly why the "policemen of the world," aka, The United States of America, was not doing anything. The victims were a people who called themselves "Muslims," and the aggressors called themselves "Christians" (I say that they called themselves Muslim and Christian because the "Muslims" had no knowledge of their religion, and the "Christians" were obviously equally as ignorant, otherwise they would not have thought that killing their neighbors was a good and right thing to do). This was not a case of "Muslim terrorists" killing Westerners; had it been, the USA would have gotten in right away with their guns and tanks (didn't they just do that in the first Gulf War a year earlier??). Our "wonderful" President, Bill Clinton, was off in Africa, riding elephants and meeting leaders, while men, women, and children were being brutally slaughtered in Bosnia.

As I was not Muslim at the time (I reverted about a decade later), I do not know if there was much outcry from the Muslims. I do know that in looking back at articles and videos and the such that were made at the time, that it does appear that Muslims were alarmingly silent. People like Yusuf Islam took it upon themselves to try to spread the word and educate the world as to what was going on (Such actions resulted in him being investigated years later). Today, I can tell you that many Muslims seem to be quite ignorant to the sufferings of the Bosnian people. The refugees that fled to places like the UK and America, found themselves being criticized heavily by other Muslims for their ignorance of the religion. No one seemed to care much that there was a REASON that they didn't know hardly a thing at all about being Muslim, other than the fact that they were called "Muslim." They struggled to find their Muslim "identity" and Muslims were not much help.

Some years later, and after I had reverted, I was working as a cashier in a grocery store. One of the semi-regular customers was a woman who told me after some time that she was a Muslim from Bosnia. She had come to America before the war, with her husband, and had raised her children here. There was no way that I could tell by looking at her that she was Muslim; she wore shorts and tank tops, and I even saw her purchasing some pork once (many Muslims in Bosnia did not know a thing at all about the dietary restrictions of Islam, and often ate pork and drank alcohol). One day she brought an old man with her to the store, and although my line was very long, they got into it. When I finally got to them, the old man looked at me with a huge smile and said, "Asalaamu Alaikam." The woman explained to me that her father was visiting from Bosnia, and when she had told him about me (a Muslim woman in hijab), he insisted on going with her to to grocery store. He told her that he wanted to see a Muslim woman in a headscarf, because he had not seen one since he was a little boy. He didn't know English, and all he could say to me was salaamz. Through his daughter, he told me how very happy he was to see a Muslim woman in hijab. He literally had tears in his eyes while talking about how happy he was to see me! He also said how sorry he was that he could not talk to me, but was so glad that he could at least give me the salaamz.

I don't know how old he was, but I know that he had to be quite advanced in his years. His daughter was already somewhere in her 50s. I tried to imagine what this old man had been through, but could not begin to understand. His whole world had changed, and although he had grown up with a bit of Islam in his childhood, he had been forced to raise his children without any Islamic training, under Soviet rule. He stood there before me, frail and feeble, with a daughter who knew nothing of Islam, but at least could appreciate what it meant to her father to see a Muslim woman covering her hair. The woman told me later of how she really knew nothing of Islam.

It is easy for people to judge the Bosnians, and say things like, "well, they could have taught their children in secret," or, "you know, once they came to America (like this woman had), they should have started to seek out knowledge of Islam." It's not that easy, especially when you see people being persecuted for their beliefs. The Bosnian Muslims became isolated, and over time, forgotten. When they re-emerged, the damage had been done, and it had only taken one generation. Bosnian Muslims are now trying to reclaim their religion, and credit should be given to them. They should be supported, as well. Their story should serve as a reminder of the importance to fight for Islam, and to help Muslims in any way that we can.

Christians suffered persecution under Soviet rule just the same as Muslims did. The Soviets did not just have a problem with Islam, but with ALL religions. They saw religion as some sort of "competition" with Communism, and did all that they could to remove religion from the peoples' daily lives. But Christians got support from the global Christian community. Christian priests, pastors, and lay people were willing to go into Russia and help the Christians there hold onto their religion. They took great risks to ensure that the Bible was not forgotten, and that Christians did not become ignorant to their faith. Why did Muslims not do the same??

We should be ashamed that we allowed this to happen to our Bosnian brothers and sisters (and all of those other former-Soviet counties like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikstan, etc). While we were busy focusing on the Palestinian crisis, and acting as though that was the only crisis that Muslims were facing, Islam was being robbed from these people!

I am not discounting the suffering of the Palestinian people; I know and understand that they are going through some amazing atrocities, and have ever since Israel was created in 1948. What I am saying here is that we should not forget that there are other places in the world where Muslims have suffered. Palestine is but one place, and one group of people. There are others who need our attention and support as well. We must also remember that after the strife appears to be "over," these people still need our help. Bosnian Muslims are still struggling today, and need the support and understanding of their fellow Muslims.

If you know a Bosnian Muslim, and you see that he or she is not doing things exactly according to Islam, please don't judge them. If simply knowing that you do not have the right to judge, and that only Allah does (despite what those pesky Wahabbis may say!), then don't judge them out of an understanding of what hells they have been through. Islam was taken from them, and they are doing what they can to get it back. You should help them. If even you only know some tiny bit of information, pass it along to them. Teach them what you know. Make it up to them as much as you can that they were forgotten by the Ummah.

Don't just support Palestine. Support ALL MUSLIMS.